Ban on THC products in Texas heads to Gov. Abbott’s desk after Senate agrees to House changes

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A bill that would ban all products containing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is headed to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk after the Senate late Sunday approved the House version of the bill advanced by the lower chamber last week.

If the measure avoids Abbott’s veto pen, Texas’ $8 billion hemp industry and its estimated 50,000 jobs would be dissolved in September, when the ban would take effect. Retailers and recreational users would be allowed to sell and consume only the non-intoxicating, non-psychoactive cannabinoids known as CBD and CBG.

The about-face comes six years after the Legislature inadvertently touched off a massive boom in hemp-based products when lawmakers, intending to boost Texas agriculture, authorized the sale of consumable hemp. Though that 2019 law does not allow products to contain more than trace amounts of delta-9 THC, it did not establish that same threshold for other hemp derivatives.

Critics say the hemp industry has exploited that loophole to the tune of more than 8,000 retailers now selling THC-laced edibles, drinks, vapes and flower buds. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who oversees the Senate, has spearheaded the push to eradicate the industry since he named it one of his top priorities nearly six months ago.

Hemp industry leaders and advocates have flooded Abbott with calls to veto the ban, known as Senate Bill 3, since the House approved it Thursday. The governor has declined to weigh in on the issue this session, deferring to lawmakers to decide on their preferred approach.

Last week, an Abbott spokesperson declined to reveal the governor’s plans for signing the THC bill, saying only that he “will thoughtfully review any legislation sent to his desk.”

In the House, proponents of the THC ban centered their pitch around the idea that Texas would expand its limited medical marijuana program, known as the Texas Compassionate Use Program, or TCUP. In separate legislation, House lawmakers have proposed adding several qualifying conditions to participate in the program, including chronic pain — a key selling point from House Republicans championing the THC ban.

That provision was later stripped from a new Senate draft of the bill unveiled days after the House’s THC vote, prompting Rep. Tom Oliverson, the Cypress Republican who led the charge to restore the THC ban in the House, to voice his displeasure on social media Saturday. Patrick shot back, saying he had told Oliverson personally that the Senate would not add chronic pain as a qualifying condition, well before Oliverson later told House members he would fight for its inclusion.

On Sunday, shortly before the Senate sent the THC ban to Abbott’s desk, Oliverson and Patrick announced they had struck a deal to include chronic pain in the medical marijuana expansion bill. The measure would also quadruple the number of licensed medical marijuana dispensers and let providers operate satellite storage facilities designed to make it easier for patients to fill their prescriptions.

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